Much can be said about Alexander Solzhenitsyn who died this weekend in Russia, and many will certainly do. With a courageous person like him having left us a few words by us might be allowed as well. He was:

A scientist who received the Nobel prize in Literature.

A red army officer fighting against the Germans in WWII.

A Stalin critic who paid for his words with eight years in the “Gulag” – almost the whole time Stalin was terrorizing the Soviet Union – and many years of his life after that.

A person who deserves our respect for his courage and willingness to stand up for his opinions not like many today.

A citizen like hundred thousands if not millions day-in-day-out threatened and terrorized by the Soviet secret service KGB.

A person thrown out by the regime from his home place then called Soviet Union.

A person later in his life getting recognized by many in his country then called Russia again for his work and activities.

Whatever you might think about Alexander Solzhenitsyn he will always remain a great Russian writer and poet and the one who has erected a monument for all the unknown and nameless victims of a very dark area in Russia’s history. If we would just learn some lessons from it today more than in all the decades since these cruelties happened.